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The Endless Search: How to Buy a Light Bulb

17 Apr The Endless Search: How to Buy a Light Bulb

Sure, it sounds easy, but with so many different types of light bulbs on the market today, it can get a bit confusing. How many watts do you need? What is a lumen anyway? I’ve got some simple tips on buying the right bulb. This handy chart is from Lighting Facts.

Save this lumen-to-watt chart to your smartphone. When you’re shopping for new halogen, LED and incandescent fixtures, this will help you buy what you’re used to. For example, if you liked your 100-watt Edison base bulb but can no longer buy it, this chart will explain that you can replace it with a 23-watt CFL or a 72-watt halogen. The “color” may not be the same, but we’ll save that for another blog post…

What were the designers thinking when they created the CFL light bulb?

I do like Plumen bulbs, though. These bulbs are named for the British designer who has won many awards for the cool-looking CFL. You can find Plumen bulbs at a few stores in the United States—in fact at Market in DeCOR carries them. If I find a great-looking LED, I’ll post it!

1000 Bulbs is my go-to for finding any type of light bulb. Check them out.

If you are looking for a new light fixture that uses some of the newer, low energy lamps, you will need to follow the lumen chart as well. I recently specified this Eurofase Cromo 9-light chandelier for a client. It requires nine 12-volt/20-watt G4 base halogen bulbs and provides enough light at the kitchen table for homework. According to the chart, it is two thirds of 29 watts listed giving us about two thirds of the 450 lumens per bulb. The math: .66 x 450 = 297 lumens, 297 lumens x 9 bulbs = 2673 total lumens. Going back to our chart, that is equal to three plus 60-watt incandescent bulbs or six 40-watt incandescent bulbs.